The present invention relates generally to a compressor section of a turbomachine; and more particularly to a method of detecting a potential crack on a blade of the compressor section.
Turbomachine, such as, air-breathing combustion turbines, have a compressor section with a plurality of blades arrange in multiple rotor stages. During normal operation, the tip speed of these blades may be at sonic or supersonic speeds. A crack in a blade may severely damage the entire turbomachine, if that blade liberates during normal operation.
Currently known methods of crack detection are normally performed through a static inspection process, while the turbomachine is offline. However, these methods require the shutdown of the turbomachine. Here, turbomachine operators are reluctant to stop the operation of the turbomachine.
Therefore, there is a desire for an improved method for detecting a crack on the blade. The method should be capable of detection a possible crack while the turbomachine operates, allowing the turbomachine to operate longer between offline inspections for blade cracking.